We look after each other
by probysgirl
Summary: Some DL fluff post COTP, contains spoilers for COTP  Be nice it's my first fic and im running on a DL high after watching Snow Day! Wasn't sure on the rating let me know if its wrong


"You want that ride?" She hadn't been paying that much attention, the days events were finally starting to catch up with her. She'd been staring out of the window half listening but not really relishing the task of sitting and waiting around. She needed some sleep and then she would be more than happy to return. Things recently had been too mad and it was finally taking its toll and she just needed to get away. She stared at him after he spoke before the words sunk in before nodding at him. He asked Mac something and waved but she didn't have the strength or energy to acknowledge it. As they stood side by side in the elevator, she felt her body start to give up, her knees giving way under the stress and exhaustion. She was expecting to hit the floor without really making an effort to stop it. She felt a strong arm go around her and being pulled flush to his chest. She wearily lay her head on his chest and took in the comfort of not being alone.

"Montana, you ok?" She didn't respond and he looked down to see her eyes closed, she had fallen asleep against him. His heart tugged in a way he'd never experienced, how is it that even when she was asleep she could affect him. He gently shook her as the elevator neared the parking lot. He moved his arm around her waist so that she could still use him for support but could also walk at the same time. As the car approached the exit he glanced over to see that she was asleep already. Sitting there waiting to enter the traffic, he took stock of her appearance, there were bags under her eyes, bruises that shouldn't grace her beautiful face and the plaster strips covering the cut on her forehead. It could have been much worse, she could have been in the building. He scrubbed at his face, he had to get back to his apartment before he could allow himself thoughts like that. A honk from the car behind made Danny finally put the car into drive again and pull out into traffic. He put the radio on in the truck so he had something seemingly mindless on to distract him.

He pulled into a parking spot right outside her door and turned to her to find she hadn't disturbed. He got out and walked around the car. Opening her door, he placed her purse in her lap, grabbing her keys out before placing his hands under her and gently lifting her up. Danny counted himself lucky that Lindsey's building had a doorman, when he spotted the pair he came over worriedly.

"Is she alright?"

"She's just asleep. You couldn't do me a favour and follow me up and open her apartment door so I don't have to wake her up." The doorman nodded, fortunately, for once in Lindsey's time in New York the elevator was actually working which Danny was very grateful about. Danny went and placed her on the couch before turning to the doorman and retrieving the keys, he placed a twenty in the man's hand.

"Sir, You don't have to do that."

"I know that but you didn't have to help me. It's been a tough couple of weeks for us all but Lindsey's having a bad time. She takes everything to heart. Today was just a bad day and she's exhausted, so not having to wake her is a good thing."

"The Marine wacko nut job?" Danny just nodded. "I saw it on the news before. At least you caught him." Again Danny just nodded, not realising just how tired he was himself. He knew he wouldn't be safe to drive, he'd crash on her couch, he'd done it before. In his most desperate times when he needed proof that he was still alive, that there was something in his life that he hadn't messed up. That she hadn't left him.

He went into her bedroom and turned down the covers, coming back he removed her shoes and jacket, carefully picking her up again she snuggled into his chest. Her arms snuck around his neck and he almost dropped her as he felt her breath on his neck, soft and gentle proving that he hadn't woke her. As he lay her down on the bed however, he felt the change in her breathing and she opened her eyes ever so slightly and smiled at what she saw. He smiled back before moving back towards the living room. He couldn't miss the look that crossed her face though. Sadness mixed with fear.

"Danny…" her voice sounded shaky. "Don't leave me." He was back at her side on his knees so the faces were level.

"I promise you Montana, I will never leave you. You hear me. Never." He leaned over slightly and gently placed a kiss to the cut on her forehead.

"Now get some sleep." He said gently before starting to stand up. He turned back as her hand slipped into his.

"I thought you said you weren't going to leave me?"

"I'm gonna be on the couch Montana. I'll be here when you wake up."

"Danny, I need you."

"Linds, as much as I would love to take you up on that offer, after all that has happened today and recently I wouldn't feel right. I would be taking advantage of you. I want us to do that because we want to not because we need to feel alive." Her eyes teared up as he spoke.

"Danny, Stay with me. I need you to be here so I know that you're still here. That I'm still alive. If I hadn't forgotten my case I would have been in the building. If I had been in Flack's place the debris would have hit my neck. I need to know that we're gonna be alright. I want you to… I just need you to hold me because when I'm with you I know I'm safe. You make me feel safe and I know that I've got someone who cares about me and will protect me even without my asking." Her tears were falling in earnest now, he wiped a few away with the pads of his thumbs before kissing her forehead again.

"I'll go and lock up Montana. I'll be five minutes." He looked at her for conformation that she knew he wasn't walking away. She nodded slightly, kissed her forehead again and left the room. As promised, he walked back into the room five minutes later. Placing his badge and cell on the bedside table he unbuttoned his shirt and removed his pants leaving him in his boxers and a wife beater. Even though she was exhausted she couldn't help but appreciate the sight before. He quietly slipped into the bed next to her and she instantly moved towards him as he pulled her into his embrace.

"We're gonna be alright Linds, we look after each other. I'm not going anywhere."

He rolled onto his back and she settled her head into the crook of his neck and placed one of her legs over one of his.

An outside observer would think that they were a pair of lovers when in reality they just needed to know that they were still there and there was something for the other to hold onto. He stroked her hair until she fell asleep, as she lay in his arms he knew that nothing could touch him right then. She was safe and that was all that mattered. When he heard the call come through, he feared the worst. He feels the guilt because his first thought was not of his best friend but of the woman who he had been determined to hate, who had slowly broken down all his walls and barriers and had taken up residence in his heart and would fight to the death before she got out. He knew she had been lucky, he'd known it staring through the window in the hospital and that was when he felt the guilt. Staring at his best friend so close to death, he'd already lost Aiden and they tried to take Flack like they'd tried to take Louie. Yet the one thing that made it all bearable was that she was alright. He could feel the tears escape but he didn't care, nor did he notice as they fell into her hair as she slept.

He must have drifted off at some point because he was awoken by his cell.

"What's happened?" He knew that no one else would be calling him at this time besides Mac.

"He squeezed my hand. I had sat there and asked him if he could hear me to squeeze his hand and he did." Danny tried to sit up momentarily that Lindsey had been lying there and she moaned in her sleep before settling back against him.

"Danny." He heard the warning tone in Mac's voice. He'd heard Lindsey's moan.

"It's not what you think."

"No?"

"No. It's Lindsey. I gave her a lift home and she almost collapsed from the exhaustion on the way down in the elevator. Then she fell asleep in the car and I carried her up to her apartment and got the doorman to help me get her in. Then when I put her in the bed I was gonna sleep on the couch and she asked me to stay with her so that she wasn't alone and that she had something to hold onto so she knew that it hadn't gone terribly wrong and she'd really been in the building and I couldn't let her think that I would leave her alone with something like this because I never would. If I could have traded places with her today I would have, anything to stop her from feeling like this." He finally took a breath listening to the silence on the other end as Mac took in what he had said.

"You were wrong Danny."

"What?"

"You said to me it'd never happen to you. You wouldn't fall in love but in that one sentence you've just proved yourself wrong even if you don't realise it yet. You've changed a lot in the last eight months and I think Lindsey has a lot to do with that. Aiden sanded down the rough edges on you, she brought you down to earth when you needed it but Lindsey. Lindsey has made you a better person Danny and you've embraced it. You've grown up. I'm proud of you. We're good." Danny just lay there totally shocked at his boss. For so long he had been waiting to hear those words and when he finally did he knew that they didn't mean as much as they would have nine months ago. He didn't need Mac's approval because he knew that he doesn't stand for things that aren't right. It was one of the few good things about Aiden's departure.

"Thanks Mac."

"Go back to sleep Danny. We'll tell Flak you're Lindsey watching if he wakes up. I'm sure he'll get a laugh out of it." He could hear the smile in Mac's voice.

"You should get some sleep yourself. Keep me up to date."

"Will do Danny. His Mom and Dad have just arrived so I'm gonna take Stella home and then crash for a bit. It's probably best to give them a couple of hours before visiting. G'night Danny." And he hung up. Danny lay there for a long time just thinking about Mac's words and watching Lindsey sleep.

He must have drifted off because he was woken by the cold to find Lindsey wasn't there. He was about to get up and look for her when she walked back into the room with a glass of water. She looked almost angelic in the early morning light filtering through the window to his left.

"Sorry, I didn't want to wake you but I needed a drink."

"S'ok." He watched her walk across the room, squinting slightly. She couldn't recall him ever looking so gorgeous with sleep tousled hair, without his glasses on watching her with a content smile on his face, arms inviting her back into his embrace as if this was the most normal thing in the world. It made her heart skip. She placed the glass on the bedside table and climbed back into the bed instantly snuggling against him.

"Mac called before, kinda glad you didn't disturb." A look of abject fear crossed her face until she realised that Danny was still smiling.

"He's awake?"

"Not yet but apparently Mac was holding his hand and said if you can hear me then squeeze my hand and well he squeezed his hand."

"Oh Danny, that's fantastic."

"Yeah so it's looking promising. He said that Don's parents had arrived so we should wait for a bit before going back. Give them some time. He also knows that I stayed here because he heard you moaning as I tried to sit up with you still on my chest."

"So long as you told him that there was no ravishing going on." She said with a smirk. He couldn't help it, he started laughing and it was like music to their ears because it had been a while since they'd had something to laugh about.

"You don't have to worry. I didn't tell him that I planned to court you." He said with a wink that had her laughing along with him. She absently started drawing patterns on his chest, both lost in their thoughts and feelings.

"I was terrified. When I heard the call come through. I knew you were at that scene and I was so scared. I thought I'd lost you. I knew Flack, my best friend, was at the scene too but you were my first thought. I was so relieved when I saw you being treated by the paramedic, you were safe. I can't let something like that happening without you knowing how I feel. I can't remember the last time I told Aiden, Louie or Flack that I loved them. They were my family and I never told them and I lost or almost lost all of them and I don't want that to happen again Linds. I care about you Linds, more than I thought I could ever care for another person but you somehow found a way through all the barriers and walls that I set up around my heart to stop this from happening and d'ya know something. I don't mind. I'm glad." He pulled her tighter to him but didn't want to look her in the eye for fear of rejection he feared he would see.

"Danny." She reached over and turned his head to her. "I'm glad I'm not the only one." And she leant over and gently placed her lips on his.


End file.
